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vernmerit . He . was a a warm advocate for civil and reli ^ bus liberty , and was very intimate withJMr . Fyshe Palmer . In 1787 * ke published a Catechism with Scripture Answers , principally for the Use of the Young Persons belonging to the Society . In 1788 , An Humble Inquiry into the Natiire and Evidences
of Faith and Regeneration . In this he gays , " The stun fcf what is necessary for salvation appears , therefore , from Scripture information to be , a knowledge and belief of the truth , which engages the heart to love God and keep his commandments ( in a steadfast manner /* t The most common , and
to us the most important , signification of the word faith , appears to be a belief of the truth , from a knowledge of its being of God . And as the truth , which God hath revealed , and requires us to believe , consists of promises and
precepts , or makes a discovery of God and our duty , by teaching us what we are to believe concerning God , and what duty he requires of us ; so , when it is received in the love of it , or truly believed , it will beget in the heart a true love to God and a firm confidence in
him , a real love to his law and a constant obedience to all his precepts . But though faith , wherever it is genuine , will operate to these ends - , yet it may be more or less strong and
extensive , in proportion to the certainty and extent of the knowledge of the person whp believes . " " If any suppose , that the grace , mercy and salvation of God is confined to the true
church , they seem greatly to mistake the design of God and the character of the church . " t € Did those who think themselves members of the true church rightly know their character and duty , and were they properly influenced by the spirit of him who was meek and lowly in heart , who went about doing good , and wept over his incorrigible opposers : instead of despising others , luce the Pharisees of , old , and dealing damnation to almost all around them ,
as seems too much the , case with the most zealous ; they would endeavour , in the spirit of meekness and love , to oppose gainsayers , and rcgoice in every appearance they see of the fear of t * od ajptd regard to his law , in them tjhat have not obtained so great a measure of faitli and fortitude as themselves /* Thjis sfcefms to me the best of his works .
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The same year he published a lette * to Mr . Dick , minister to-. the Burgher congregation at Slateford . \ fl ^ r * fiiclc had published a very violent sermon against Arians and Soeinians , with a particular reference to Dr . M ' Gill , against whom also a committee of the Associate Synod had published a violent warning against Socinianism . In answer to both these , Mr . Purves says ^ in this letter , " The word of God
give 3 us the fullest assurance , that he will uphold all the upright in heart y that all will . be made to stand , who are meek and lowly in heart , and humbly rely on his aid /* " Have you ventured to vary the mode of your faith from that of a church which lays claim to infallibility ? And will you venture to damn those who , upon examination .
cannot adopt certain articles of faith , prescribed in a system , composed by men who did not so much as pretend to infallibility ? " " If you hold that the second person in the Trinity subsists in a more close or intimate union
with the humanity than the other two persons do , you certainly ascribe less divinity to Christ than Soeinians do , if they hold that the whole Deity dwells in the humanity in the closest or most intimate union that possibly can subsist between divine and human nature . "
In 1790 , he published Observations on Socinian Arguments , in which he maintains , that alt souls existed before they were united with bodies . In 1792 , he wrote a Declaration of the Religious Opinions of the Universalist
Dissenters in Edinburgh , which was published b y the Society . In 1795 , soon after his death , was published his Review of the Age of Reason , in which he shews " the necessity of a revelation from God , in order to the
knowledge of God , religion and a future state , and that such a revelation is consistent with what Deists profess to believe concerning God and the condition of man . " When we consider that Mr . Purves had to teach a school
for his support , till within a tew years of his death , . and to prepare three discourses to be delivered each Sunday , we must be surprised how he could find time , to compose thejse wQrkfc > besides some smaller pieces not here
mentioned . < . ' t cannot fail , on the \ yhole , to b $ struck with his zeal and ardour , under such circumstances , in quest of know- *
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Memoir of the late Mr . Purves . /^
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1820, page 79, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2485/page/15/
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